Chapter 5: In my dreams

Hermione looked around the room. Why was she in the dungeons? Was she having that nightmare about failing potions again? Snape was sitting at his desk, grading papers with a sinister smile.

"Professor?" She asked timidly. He jumped and looked up without hiding any of his shock as he did in the waking world.

"What are you doing in my dream?" He said bewilderedly. "This isn't the one you're in."

"What…" Hermione had been about to ask what he had been doing in her dream when she stopped. "What is the other dream?"

"You… you come to my rooms and we play chess, and read, and… you love me," he confessed thinking a dream perfectly safe. "I know you never could of course, that's why I enjoy it so much." Hermione said nothing about this confession as she moved closer.

"Your hair is different Severus," she whispered brushing it with her fingers. He shivered at her touch.

"Yes, well, slaving over a steaming cauldron all day can make anyone's hair greasy." He said, shivering at her touch. "This isn't the same dream, Hermione, but you're acting the same." She tried to play along. If this was really a crossing of dreams she didn't want him to know.

"You're acting differently too," she whispered leaning close to his ear.

"No reason to hide in a dream," he replied his hands moving to rest on her hips. "You're acting differently too. Maybe it's because of all the time I'm going to be spending with the real Hermione." She nodded and leaned back to look him in he eyes.

"Do you love me?" She asked. He nodded. "Do you love the real Hermione?" He hesitated and she frowned.

"I… it's not the same really, not love so much as admiration. She's an amazingly intelligent witch." He said his fingers lifting to stroke her cheek. "I could never kiss her… well never again." He admitted. "I did today… er, yesterday. She was disgusted by it. She told me so." His lips lifted to hers. "But I can kiss you," he said before he did just that. Hermione pulled away gently.

"Pretend I'm her. Act with me as you would with her if you could." Severus smiled.

"Very well Hermione." His lips claimed hers passionately; she felt taken aback but compelled to oblige him. She kissed back, her fingers becoming entangled in his soft clean hair. The time for words had past, she realized. She would not learn if he loved her, and she would not have to tell him she did just to pretend to be this dream-hermione. She had liked this new Snape, the one no one saw, but not as much as she liked the hand that was creeping into her robe, the buttons having been undone in her distraction. His lips traveled down her throat causing her to gasp. These things were so new, and still so familiar somehow. Quickly she was divested of her robe completely, his hands traveling over her black bra, silky but plain. She gasped slightly. Was this all he wanted from her? Was she no more than a body to satiate lust?

She pulled back, slight indignation painted on her face, to ask what her mind had already been busy asking, but was stopped by his eyes. They were filled with lust, but also a deeper emotion… a deeper sadness, loneliness. It may not be her he loved or wanted to, but he wanted someone. And for the moment she felt compelled to give it to him. Now, when he would let her.

This time it was she who kissed him, she could feel his surprise, but it didn't stop him from leaning her against his desk and slowly, meticulously, removing her bra. She shivered as his lips closed down on her neck and arched her back into him, his name slipping easily from her lips, her hands working at his robes.

Soon they were both lying atop his desk, him above, and she bellow, both naked and writhing, but still separate. Not as close as they could be.

It feels so wonderful. She thought as they became one.

All warm and soft and… mine, Snape's thoughts were not the purest, but they did not need to be. She was gasping beneath him, writing, moaning his name, urging him on. Love was not a question for the now, only the feelings worried him now.

He is amazing, Hermione thought. So worried about giving her as much pleasure as he was obviously getting from her. Her name was on his lips, the taste of him in her mouth as a burning grew in her abdomen. And even though she had never been with a man, she inwardly knew what was coming. The inevitable climax.

She clawed at his shoulders. He was getting closer, and so was she, he knew. "Oh, Hermione," he sighed, awaiting the feeling of her arrival.

She wanted him to continue forever, but she knew it would end soon, and she wanted that too. "Severus," she moaned, "oh Severus, please."

He smiled triumphantly as she screamed his name.

"Oh Severus!" Her toes curled, her mouth opened in a silent scream.

His smile was wiped clean soon after he heard her scream and he collapsed upon her, careful not to cut off her breathing.

They looked into each other's eyes and smiled warmly. "This dream was better," he sighed.

Hermione sat up in her bed. It was day. Saturday, to be precise. She dressed and went down to meal. Perhaps I will ask to spend the day with him. It won't be as pleasant as last night, I'm sure, but maybe I can break into that hard… shell. She thought with a smile on her way through the corridor.

Snape sat up in his bed and cursed silently. He would have to clean the sheets again. He cast a quick spell, ridding the black cotton of the white stains, and dressed for meal. He looked forward to seeing her even if his dream could never happen. Someone inside his head was calling him an idiot, but he was so blissful, it didn't seem to matter.

AN and Disclaimer:

I do not own the characters or… well anything but the plot really.

Well there you go. Another chapter and another… chapter? Hope you enjoyed it. I'll try to post again soon.